LG licenses 2G-4G patents from Nokia, will pay royalties

Well, this is a curveball for Microsoft – Nokia and LG have reached a smartphone patent licensing agreement. LG will license over 60 Nokia patents related to 2G, 3G and 4G and will pay royalties to the Finns.

Ramzi Haidamus, President of Nokia Technologies, says that "This agreement sets the scene for further collaboration between our companies in future." He also states that this is a mutually beneficial agreement between the two companies and any differences they might have will be resolved with independent arbitration.

Certain terms of the agreement remain confidential, the details of the royalty payments will be ironed out within a year or two.

The way Nokia's press release is worded it sounds like this deal is the first of many to come – it calls LG "the first major smartphone manufacturer to join the licensing program since Nokia divested its Devices & Services business to Microsoft in 2014."

Well, it was clear from the start Microsoft will not have Nokia's patents to itself forever, now it remains to be seen how it will handle the increased competition.